Grade: 11
Suggested Time Frame: MP4
Unit 4: Finding Meaning in the Absurd
Anchor Text:
The Catcher in the Rye J.D. Salinger
Unit Essential Question(s):
How do writers use point of view and narrative style to affect the readers’ understanding and experience?
Priority Standards: Fiction
CC.1.3.11-12.D - Evaluate how an author’s point of view or purpose shapes the content and style of a text.
L.F.2.3.1 - Explain, interpret, compare, describe, analyze, and/or evaluate character.
L.F.2.3.2 - Explain, interpret, compare, describe, analyze, and/or evaluate setting.
L.F.2.3.3 - Explain, interpret, compare, describe, analyze, and/or evaluate plot.
L.F.2.3.4 - Explain, interpret, compare, describe, analyze, and/or evaluate theme.
L.F.2.3.5 - Explain, interpret, compare, describe, analyze, and/or evaluate tone, style, and/or mood.
L.F.2.3.6 - Explain, interpret, compare, describe, analyze, and/or evaluate point of view.
Secondary Standards: Fiction
CC.1.3.11-12.I – Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases based on grade-level reading and content,
choosing flexibility from a range of strategies and tools.
L.F.1.2.1 – Identify and/or apply a synonym or antonym of a word used in a text.
L.F.1.2.2 – Identify how the meaning of a word is changed when an affix is added; identify the meaning of a word with an affix from a text.
L.F.1.2.3 – Use context clues to determine or clarify the meaning of unfamiliar, multiple-meaning, or ambiguous words.
L.F.1.2.4 – Draw conclusions about connotations of words.
CC.1.3.11-12.J – Acquire and use accurately general academic and domain-specific words and phrases, sufficient for reading, writing, speaking, and
listening at the college-and-career-readiness level; demonstrate independence in gathering vocabulary knowledge when considering a word or phrase
important to comprehension or expression.
L.F.1.2.1 – Identify and/or apply a synonym or antonym of a word used in a text.
L.F.1.2.2 – Identify how the meaning of a word is changed when an affix is added; identify the meaning of a word with an affix from a text.
L.F.1.2.3 – Use context clues to determine or clarify the meaning of unfamiliar, multiple-meaning, or ambiguous words.
L.F.1.2.4 – Draw conclusions about connotations of words.
Priority Standards: Non-Fiction
CC.1.2.11-12.G – Integrate and evaluate multiple sources of information presented in different media formats (e.g., visually, quantitatively) as well as in
words in order to address a question or solve a problem.
L.N.2.2.1 – Analyze how literary form relates to and/or influences meaning of a text.
L.N.2.2.2 – Compare and evaluate the characteristics that distinguish fiction from literary nonfiction.
L.N.2.2.3 – Explain, interpret, compare, describe, analyze, and/or evaluate connections between texts.
CC.1.2.11-12.H – Analyze seminal texts based upon reasoning, premises, purposes, and arguments.
L.N.2.5.1 – Differentiate between fact and opinion.
L.N.2.5.2 – Explain, interpret, describe, and/or analyze the use of facts and opinions in a text.
L.N.2.5.3 – Distinguish essential from nonessential information.
L.N.2.5.4 – Identify, explain, and/or interpret bias and propaganda techniques in nonfictional text.
L.N.2.5.5 – Explain, describe, and/or analyze the effectiveness of bias (explicit and implicit) and propaganda techniques in nonfictional text.
L.N.2.5.6 – Explain, interpret, describe, and/or analyze the author’s defense of a claim to make a point or construct an argument in nonfictional
text.
Secondary Standards: Non-Fiction
CC.1.2.11-12.J – Acquire and use accurately general academic and domain-specific words and phrases, sufficient for reading, writing, speaking, and
listening at the college-and-career-readiness level; demonstrate independence in gathering vocabulary knowledge when considering a word or phrase
important to comprehension or expression.
L.N.1.2.1 – Identify and/or apply a synonym or antonym of a word used in a text.
L.N.1.2.2 – Identify how the meaning of a word is changed when an affix is added; identify the meaning of a word with an affix from a text.
L.N.1.2.3 – Use context clues to determine or clarify the meaning of unfamiliar, multiple-meaning, or ambiguous words.
L.N.1.2.4 – Draw conclusions about connotations of words.
Priority Standards: Writing
CC.1.4.11-12.D – Organize complex ideas, concepts, and information so that each new element builds on that which precedes it to create a whole; use
appropriate and varied transitions and syntax to link the major sections of the text; provide a concluding statement or section that supports the
information presented; include formatting when useful to aiding comprehension.
C.IE.1.1.3 – Use appropriate organizational strategies for informational and explanatory writing (e.g., compare/contrast, cause/effect,
problem/solution, process analysis).
CC.1.4.11-12.S – Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research, applying grade-level reading standards
-for literature and literary nonfiction.
CC.1.4.11-12.T – Develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach, focusing on addressing
what is most significant for a specific purpose audience.
CC.1.4.11-12.U – Use technology, including the Internet, to produce, publish, and update individual or shared writing products in response to ongoing
feedback, including new arguments and information.
Secondary Standards: Writing
CC.1.4.11-12.F – Demonstrate a grade-appropriate command of the conventions of standard English grammar, usage, capitalization, punctuation, and
spelling.
C.IE.1.1.5 – Write with control of grammar, mechanics, spelling, usage, and sentence formation.
CC.1.4.11-12.V – Conduct short as well as more sustained research projects to answer a question (including a self-generated questions) or solve a
problem; narrow or broaden the inquiry when appropriate; synthesize multiple sources on the subject, demonstrating understanding of the subject under
investigation.
CC.1.4.11-12.W – Gather relevant information from multiple authoritative print and digital sources, using advanced searches effectively; assess the
strengths and limitations of each source in terms of the task, purpose, and audience; integrate information into the text selectively to maintain the flow of
ideas, avoiding plagiarism and overreliance on any one source and following a standard format citation.
Priority Standards: Speaking & Listening
CC.1.5.11-12.F – Make strategic use of digital media in presentations to add interest and enhance understanding of findings, reasoning, and evidence.
Secondary Standards: Speaking & Listening
CC.1.5.11-12.A – Initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative discussions on grade-level topics, texts, and issues, building on others’ ideas
and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.
CC.1.5.11-12.C – Integrate multiple sources of information presented in diverse formats and media (e.g. visually, quantitatively, orally) in order to make
informed decisions and solve problems, evaluating the credibility and accuracy of each source and noting any discrepancies among the data.
CC.1.5.11-12.D – Present information, findings, and supporting evidence, conveying a clear and distinct perspective; organization, development,
substance, and style are appropriate to purpose, audience, and task.
CC.1.5.11-12.E – Adapt speech to a variety of contexts and tasks.
Supplemental Texts
Fiction/Drama:
The Old Man and the Sea – Ernest Hemingway
The Death of a Salesman – Arthur Miller
“In Another Country” – Ernest Hemingway (Adventures in American Literature Anthology)
“Sophistication” – Sherwood Anderson (Adventures in American Literature Anthology)
“Winter Dreams” – F. Scott Fitzgerald (Adventures in American Literature Anthology)
Nonfiction:
“The Myth of Sisyphus” – Albert Camus
“Literature in Modern America” – Adventures in American Literature Anthology
Poetry:
“The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” – T.S. Eliot (Adventures in American Literature Anthology)
The Wasteland – T. S. Eliot
“Comin’ Thro’ the Rye” – Robert Burns
“Why Boy Came to Lonely Place” – Robert Penn Warren (Adventures in American Literature Anthology)
Media Texts:
“Your Special Teenage Brain” YouTube video (for use with The Catcher in the Rye) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9EEee1s74k
“What are the Principles of Absurdist Fiction?” YouTube video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nGSLoENBgg
Priority Concept/Skill
CC.1.3.11-12.D - Evaluate
how an author’s point of
view or purpose shapes
the content and style of a
text.
Lesson EQs:
-How does an author’s
point of view or purpose
shape the content and/or
style of the text?
-How does the narration
determine what the reader
knows and how it’s
conveyed?
Tier 3 Vocabulary:
-Conflict, point of view,
character, setting, plot,
conflict and resolution,
exposition, rising action,
climax, falling action,
theme, tone, mood,
inference, generalization
Priority Concept/Skill
Priority Concept/Skill
CC.1.2.11-12.G – Integrate
and evaluate multiple
sources of information
presented in different
media formats (e.g.,
visually, quantitatively) as
well as in words in order
to address a question or
solve a problem.
CC.1.2.11-12.H – Analyze
seminal texts based upon
reasoning, premises,
purposes, and arguments.
Lesson EQs:
Lesson EQs:
-How does the text
address an idea found in
another text?
-How does interaction
with the text provoke
thinking and response?
-What other texts relate to
your main text?
Tier 3 Vocabulary:
Biography, autobiography,
essay, literary criticism
Tier 3 Vocabulary:
Fact and opinion, bias,
purpose, attitude,
argument, ethos, pathos,
logos, analogy, anecdote,
counterargument, rebuttal
Priority Concept/Skill
CC.1.4.11-12.D – Organize complex
ideas, concepts, and information
so that each new element builds on
that which precedes it to create a
whole; use appropriate and varied
transitions and syntax to link the
major sections of the text; provide
a concluding statement or section
that supports the information
presented; include formatting
when useful to aiding
comprehension.
Lesson EQs:
-How are complex ideas organized
to enhance the text from beginning
to end?
Priority Concept/Skill
Priority Concept/Skill
Priority Concept/Skill
Priority Concept/Skill
CC.1.4.11-12.S – Draw
evidence from literary or
informational texts to
support analysis,
reflection, and research,
applying grade-level
reading standards for
literature and literary
nonfiction.
CC.1.4.11-12.T – Develop
and strengthen writing as
needed by planning,
revising, editing,
rewriting, or trying a new
approach, focusing on
addressing what is most
significant for a specific
purpose audience.
CC.1.4.11-12.U – Use
technology, including the
Internet, to produce,
publish, and update
individual or shared
writing products in
response to ongoing
feedback, including new
arguments and
information.
CC.1.5.11-12.F – Make
strategic use of digital
media in presentations to
add interest and enhance
understanding of findings,
reasoning, and evidence.
Lesson EQs:
Lesson EQs:
Lesson EQs:
Lesson EQs:
-What is the most
appropriate evidence to
use from a source?
- How do planning,
revising, editing, and
rewriting enhance your
work?
-How does the use of
technology contribute to
or enhance your work?
-How can the use of digital
media in your
presentation add interest
and enhance
understanding?
Tier 3 Vocabulary:
Brainstorming, outlining,
editing, proofreading
Unit Common Assessments:
-Character comparison essay (Holden Caulfield and J. Alfred Prufrock)
-The Catcher in the Rye research project & presentation
Unit Goals:
By the end of this unit, students will be able to read and comprehend literary fiction and/or nonfiction and informational text on grade
level, reading independently and proficiently. (CC.1.2.11-12.L and CC.1.3.11-12.K)
By the end of this unit, students will have written routinely over extended time frames and shorter time frames for a range of
discipline-specific tasks, purposes, and audiences. (CC.1.4.11-12X)
By the end of this unit, students will demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English when speaking based on grades 1112 level and content. (CC.1.5.11-12.G)